Manchester City survived a brief scare to beat Southampton and close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to seven points.

Southampton responded to David Silva’s early opener when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg took the ball off Oleksandr Zinchenko and fired it into the top corner.

City had luck on their side when Raheem Sterling’s shot deflected off James Ward-Prowse to make it 2-1.

Sergio Aguero’s back-post header completed the scoring before half-time. Sergio Aguero scored 18 goals in the Premier League in 2018 – his best tally in a calendar year when making less than 30 appearances for Manchester City.

Southampton goalscorer Hojbjerg – who had only just returned from suspension – was shown a straight red card for a lunging tackle on Fernandinho with just over five minutes to go.

City had a number of decent chances as Silva, Aguero and Riyad Mahrez all went close in the first half and Aguero smacked the crossbar after the break.

Southampton threatened too and Charlie Austin was twice denied by City keeper Ederson in the first half before Hojbjerg’s equaliser.

But the Saints were ultimately undone by Pep Guardiola’s free-flowing side, who move up to second place in the table.